Finish: 49

I’m really excited to share my latest finish with y’all! This is the most technically challenging quilt I’ve ever made, and (probably related) has taken the most time to complete. For the last couple of years, my aesthetic has been pretty minimal and graphic, which was heavily influenced by my QDAD (Quilt Design A Day) practice. At the beginning of the year, I joined an improv bee (#beesewcial on Instagram) and it’s had a pretty significant impact on my personal quilting style as a result. It’s always exciting and a bit scary when my aesthetic starts to shift, and it’s really reignited my passion for quilting this year. But dang it’s a lot slower than those minimalist quilts I was making! 😉

If you’ve been following me on Instagram (@playcrafts), you’ve seen this quilt come to fruition. The fabric was kindly donated by RJR Fabrics in return for them getting to hang the quilt in their booth at Quilt Market in Houston. When they approached me, I’d already been playing with a design and they were happy to let me run with it.

The design of course, has a story. Two weeks after I signed the paperwork at my new job and found a place to live in Orlando (but before we’d actually moved), the biggest mass shooting in the US to date happened at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. I wept for my new home, and wondered how I would fit in to a place where such a thing could happen. But the way Orlando responded gave me hope; there was no hesitation to help, no backlash that many of the victims identified as LGBTQA, that many were Latinos.

Now that I’m here, I can say that Orlando is one of the friendliest places I have ever lived. Getting to know people here, so many of them were affected by the shooting in some way. As I listened to their stories of loss and rebuilding and hope and sadness, I mourned with them and wished I’d had the chance to know the people they had loved and lost. With the stories in mind, I began working on this design.

The design is an abstraction of the skyline of Orlando as often depicted, with the city’s lights reflecting in Lake Eola. There are 49 light squares/blocks, one for each of the victims killed in the shooting. Losing someone leaves such a hole where their presence used to be, and I tried to reflect that in the way I created this quilt. While there’s traditional piecing used in this quilt, the majority of the light blocks were pieced in using inset corners. The process requires cutting away the background to make room for the square you are piecing in, and piecing it in whole. In a way, I was attempting to take the holes left by those who had died and patch them with light. If only it were as easy to do that in real life.

This quilt truly was a labor of love in so many ways. It’s a quilt of loss, but also a quilt of hope. It’s a quilt for my new home and my new friends. But mostly it’s a quilt for the 49 people who unfairly lost their lives and the light they left behind.

Wow, Anne, this is so stunning and I loved getting to know more about the story and mindfulness behind the process and quilt creation. Seeing your style evolve has been inspiring to me, and I am always going to be a fan of any art that comes from such a measured, thoughtful, and purposeful place. I am so glad that moving to Orlando has gone so well for you (it is 180° from my FL experience, honestly… but I was working in a very strictly conservative male dominated area, so, yeah, it was different (go home and cook in your kitchen where you belong different)). I really wish I were going to be at market; getting to see this in person would be a real treat. Congratulations on the finish and I hope you stay safe through the storm.

Thank you so much, Yvonne. I’ve been watching YOUR style progress and evolve as well and it’s been an awesome journey so far. 😀
One of the reasons I was so worried about moving to Florida is that in general, their political leanings do not match well with mine (I’ll just leave it at that.) But it turns out Orlando is its own little bastion of sanity and has a very different feel from the rest of Florida. Which, thank goodness!! I even went to an auto parts store yesterday and the guy didn’t treat me any differently than Eli who was there with me.

That is gorgeous and the background behind it makes it so thought provoking too. When I saw it in my feedly list it first reminded me of flying over somewhere remote and you see the odd few lights on below and you wonder – who on earth lives there, those below not knowing you can see something of them from up above. Having read the story behind it, it really does show how we interact and affect each other and a person’s loss touches more than you think.

Ohh I know exactly what you mean about flying over some smaller town and wondering about the people who live there. It’s so true that we touch each other in ways we could never expect, a small word here or there can have a big impact on someone else’s life. Annddd now I want to make a quilt about that. 🙂

The story behind this quilt is terribly sad but what you made from it is so wonderful.
The design of it is FANTASTIC!!
We need more people like you in this crazy world. People that care and want to try to make it better, even if you only can in a lilttle way.
Beautiful work!!

This became so much more than watching your progress on IG! The story behind a quilt is what brings them to life, and you also honored each and every Pulse victim. I love this quilt. I keep looking closer and closer at it. I certainly draws me in. Did you do partitial seams as well as the inset corners? You should be very proud of this quilt! So well done Anne!

Thank you, Jayne. <3 You really DID look at it closely, yes there are a few partial seams. But the vast majority is inset corners. Some pieces had 2 or even 3 of the corners inset. I never attempted all four. 🙂

Man, thank you. <3 It always makes my heart happy to hear someone call me an artist. ^_^ Sad, hopeful kind of describes my general outlook on life. lol Thank you for the kind words and I'm so happy my work touched you in some way. <3

Thank you so much, Rahel! If you want some inspiration and help getting into improv quilts, I highly suggest The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters by Sherri Lynn Wood. It is a fantastic book for getting started and providing prompts.

I loved this from the beginning watching it come together. It is an amazing finish! It reminds me of stars or fireflies but the true story behind it is so much more important.
(And I am loving your new quilting aesthetic!) 🙌🏻

Thank you so much, Ginny! I am super inspired by both stars and fireflies, so it makes me happy that my quilt caused such cool connections. 🙂 I feel like I’m still finding my way with this new aesthetic, but I am loving the experimentation!

Thank you so much, Karen! I really appreciate the kind words. 😀 Instagram is so much easier to post to than a blog, I understand why people have moved there. But I really miss the long form writing so I’m trying to still update my blog while I can. 😀 Thank you for reading!

Thank you, Christine! It was a hard story to share (partially because it was just really hard to put the maelstrom of emotions into words that made any sense), so I really appreciate that it’s being received well. 🙂

Thank you, Lisa! The story was really hard to get out into words that made any sense whatsoever (making sense of the emotional mire isn’t easy sometimes), but comments like these make me feel like it was worth it. <3

Thank you! I’d actually never heard of inset corners before, either! But I knew what I wanted to do (sew some blocks together to look overlapping without adding extra seams) and google searched until I found what I needed to do. 🙂

I somehow missed this post while we were on a trip. I really like this one. I think you’re moving in a good direction. One thing about your quilts is they are not like anybody else’s and they are all so different. I think I love modern quilts more than ever all the time and it’s because of people like you.

Wow, this is the best compliment I’ve ever received, thank you so much! <3 Improv is still challenging for me (which means I really enjoy it, but also means I'm producing a lot slower because the challenge is both mental and technical) but I feel like I'm starting to get closer to finding my voice artistically if that makes sense? I'm sure it's a moving target, but I always get excited when I feel a step closer. 😀

I just saw your quilt mentioned by Yvonne at quiltingjetgirl. Your quilt is so beautifully designed and dedicated. You may be new to Orlando, but I can see that you have already become part of the community with your love and respect. 49 leaves me overwhelmed and speechless. Thank you.

The quilt is dazzling, and the story behind it is so intense. Wonky squares are my favorite quilt theme. I understand when you say the squares within the blocks are inset, but how are they secured? By some appliqué technique like machine appliqué, or by hand, like needle turn? Also, I see your layout in progress on your design wall, but how do you join the blocks? Do you cut away the overlapping parts, or just leave them multi-layered?